Raven (Fred x oc)

76. Soon to be Parted

"Noticed, have you?" Fred remarked as he, George, and I approached Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Hufflepuff, Ernie staring at the hourglasses with the house points.

"Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points," Harry grumbled.

"That child," I muttered irritably.

"Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break," George said.

"What do you mean, 'tried'?" Ron asked.

"He never managed to get the words out," I said. "These two shoved him into the vanishing cabinet on the first floor." I shot them a disapproving glare.

"But you'll get in terrible trouble!" Hermione cried.

"Not until Montague reappears," Fred said. "And that could take weeks. I dunno where we sent him. Anyway, we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."

"Have you ever?" Hermione retorted.

"Of course we have," George replied. "Never been expelled, have we?"

"We've always known where to draw the line," Fred said. I cleared my throat. Rolling his eyes playfully, Fred corrected, "Okay, fine, Valerie made sure we knew where to draw the line."

"We might have gone a little too far occasionally," George said.

"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem," Fred explained.

Tentatively, Ron asked, "But now?"

"Well now-" George began.

"-what with Dumbledore gone-"

"-we reckon a bit of mayhem-"

"-is exactly what our dear new Head deserves," Fred finished.

"You mustn't!" Hermione hissed. "You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you!"

"You don't get it, Hermione, do you?" Fred chuckled. "We don't care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first."

"And you're okay with this?" Hermione demanded, looking at me.

"Are you kidding?" I laughed. "I've come up with half their pranks for this."

"But-" Hermione began.

"Hermione," I interrupted with a sigh. "Think about it from their perspective. Why would they want to stay?"

"Aren't you going with them?" Harry asked. I shook my head.

"This is their path, not mine," I replied. "But I support them all the way."

"Speaking of which," Fred said, glancing down at his watch. "Phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it."

"Anything to do with what?" Hermione asked, nervously looking between the three of us.

"You'll see," George replied. "Run along, now." Once they had, George added, "You too, Val."

"But I always pull the big pranks with you guys," I pouted.

"Oh come now, Luv," Fred said, wrapping an arm around me. "If you do this with us, at worst you'll get expelled. At best, months of detention and you lose the Quidditch team."

"You're right," I sighed. Giving them one last smile and a wave, I turned and went to lunch.

"Are they going to be okay?" Angelina asked, sitting down next to me.

I replied, "Honestly, I'm a bit worried. Once their mother finds out about this? I'd hate to be them." Before I could say more, there was a thunderous booming sound. Jumping to my feet, I rushed toward the sound with everyone else. The glorious fireworks they had spent so much time working on fizzled and glittered around the school with Umbridge and Finch chasing after them.

The fireworks swarmed around the entire school for the rest of the day and into the night.

......................................................................................

My eyes drooped tiredly as I worked through one of my many essays. I rubbed at the cramp in my shoulder, hearing the satisfying popping of my neck as I rolled it back and forth, easing the stressed muscles. When I went back to my essay, I felt a pair of arms around my waist and a kiss on my cheek.

"Hi," I said, turning and kissing Fred on the cheek.

Sitting down next to me, he said, "We're going tomorrow." I drew in a sharp breath, blinking in surprise. George, Angelina, and Lee all sat down with us as I lay my head on Fred's shoulder.

Looking between Fred and George, Lee asked, "So you're really leaving?" They nodded.

"Then I wish you the best of luck," I said, hugging George and Fred in turn. "You both have to write to me all the time."

"We will," Fred promised. "Who knows, we might need some help."

"Might?" Angelina laughed. "You know you need her."

"I'm gonna miss you guys," Lee said, looking at the two of them.

"We all will," I added.

"We're going to miss you too," George said. As the fire crackled in the fireplace, I looked around at my friends, the people who had seen me through thick and thin for the last seven years and smiled.

"You guys have been the best friends I could have ever asked for," I said. "All of you. It's weird to think we won't ever hang out all together like this ever again."

"We'll hang out again," Fred countered.

"Well, yeah, but not like this," I countered. "Not at Hogwarts."

"Well, we have one last night," Angelina said. "We can spend all of it together." I smiled.

"Okay, best Hogwarts memory, the first one you think of, go," Lee said, pointing at George.

"Every time we pranked Snape," he replied.

"Angelina," Lee said.

"Pre-game rituals with Val, Alicia, and Katie," she replied, smiling at the memories.

"How about you, Lee?" I asked.

"Doing Quidditch announcements," he said. "And getting yelled at by McGonagall." We all laughed. "Fred?"

He thought about it a moment before saying, "Winning the Quidditch Cup in the fifth year."

"How about you, Val?" George asked.

"Oh gosh," I sighed, trying to think. "I honestly don't even know. I have so many here. I mean there was winning the Quidditch Cup, every prank we ever did, Pre-game rituals, annoying Umbridge...there's been so much I've loved here."

"That was...super cheesy," Fred said with a small laughed. I snorted, covering it with a laugh.

"Oh, come now," I laughed. "You love it."

"Yes, unfortunately," he said, sighing overdramatically. Rolling my eyes, I punched his shoulder. "Ouch!" I smirked. As the night went on, the number of people in the room dwindled down and soon it was just Fred and me. "So, I wanted to actually talk to you about something," Fred said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Would you want to marry one day?" he asked. I blushed, involuntarily smiling.

"Um, yeah, I was planning on it," I replied. "Maybe like an extended engagement and then marriage."

"Oh, that's cool," he said awkwardly. I laughed, wrapping my arms around him.

"You're such a dork," I chuckled.

"And yet you're dating me," he countered.

"Hey, I never said it wasn't cute," I said, kissing his cheek.